Friday, January 4, 2019

Coming of Age in the Age of Addiction



Humans and the Extinction Crisis


It is safe to say that as consumers we will never get enough of what we don't need. In today's market-driven economy the more addictive the thing, the better. The repeat customer is the objective for all successful entrepreneurs and their investors. In the inertia of buying low/selling high our consumer culture has evolved into a form of junky-madness on the grandest of scale, where we are more than willing to transform everything the natural world has to offer into goods and services as long as doing so drives our global economy. It's kind of scary.

Flashback to Puerto Vallarta - to one of the best sales pitches I've ever heard:
"You need more junk for your house lady? Cheaper than Walmart!"

This man had discovered the great truth and was more than willing to shout it out for all to hear, and in his attempt to stand out from the rest of the vendors vying for our money he went straight to the heart of what was really driving our modern-day economy: essentially, we're all  middlemen willingly peddling junk for profit. I hope I don't sound too negative here, but, at the end the day, when all these things once desired fall from our grace(s) they all transcend into that junk state destined for a landfill somewhere out of sight; out of mind. Or, so it seems.

Speaking for myself, at one time a young mother,  I have lost a lot of love to addictive behavior and my heart hurts. Sometimes it hurts way too much. There is in fact an entire generation coming of age right now dealing with the sum wreckage of all our addictive behavior patterns combined and our world is in crisis mode. We are creatures of habit just as we are creatures of habitat.

This is a conversation we should all be having "What are you willing to sacrifice?" 





I like to step back from the game from time-to-time, to reflect upon how human behavior affects our world, and yes - I know. I know! - this image is disturbing. I don't like the thought of human behavior affecting our world like cancer either, however, there is one aspect to this comparison that I find most promising "we have a choice whether we are malignant or benign." We have a choice! AND, most importantly, as intelligent beings, we can learn from our mistakes: Remission is a state of mind.






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